Malaysia Government

The main opposition newspaper has been given two months to either stop selling copies at newsstands or risk being shut down, the publication's editor said. The permit for the widely read Harakah prohibits it from being bought by people who are not members of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, which publishes it, but many newsstands have ignored the law. Editor Zulkifli Sulong said that by March, Harakah expects to sell only to party members at party offices.

The main opposition newspaper has been given two months to either stop selling copies at newsstands or risk being shut down, the publication's editor said. The permit for the widely read Harakah prohibits it from being bought by people who are not members of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, which publishes it, but many newsstands have ignored the law. Editor Zulkifli Sulong said that by March, Harakah expects to sell only to party members at party offices.

An explosive mixture of political and economic turmoil promises to turn a normally staid economic gathering--whose participants include President Clinton and his counterparts throughout the Pacific Rim--in Malaysia into a several-ring circus starting this week.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad won another five-year term Monday in a bitterly contested election that capped more than a year of political and economic turmoil but left Mahathir's image as an iron-willed survivor firmly intact. His victory came as no surprise. After 18 years in power, Mahathir is Asia's longest-serving elected leader.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for an investigation of how former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim received the welts and bruises he displayed in court this week, a newspaper reported. Mahathir initially suggested that Anwar's injuries were self-inflicted during 10 days in police custody to gain public sympathy. Mahathir fired Anwar on Sept. 2, saying he was morally unfit for office. The two differed over economic policy as the country veered into recession.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he will wait to appoint a successor to ousted Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who faces trial next month. Meanwhile, Malaysian police, citing safety concerns, have barred Mahathir supporters from holding a mass rally in the capital later this week. Last week, Mahathir, 72, said he could "drop dead" at any time, fueling speculation that he was about to announce a new deputy. A former heir apparent to Mahathir, Anwar was fired Sept.

In his first public appearance since his arrest nine days earlier, former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in court Tuesday that he was beaten unconscious while in police detention. He showed the court a bruised face and body at his arraignment on corruption and sex charges and pleaded not guilty to the nine charges against him. Outside, riot police patrolled the streets to keep Anwar's supporters from swarming the courthouse.

This Southeast Asian nation braced for a crackdown on supporters of former Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim today after he was arrested as the head of a movement calling for an end to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's rule. Riot police broke down the front door of Anwar's suburban home late Sunday and took him in a heavily guarded van to police headquarters. Later, several police officers entered Anwar's house while about 100 of their colleagues in riot gear stood by outside on the street.

Democratic institutions in Asia range from the well-established, such as those in Japan, to the nonexistent in North Korea. Where democratic seeds have been planted, they continue to grow, slowly in some cases and almost always in ways notably different from the way such institutions first sprouted in Britain and the United States.

Jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim was hospitalized for tests after his lawyers claimed that Malaysian authorities were poisoning him with arsenic. Karpal Singh, Anwar's lawyer, said secret tests on the former deputy prime minister's urine proved that the 52-year-old politician, who has been in jail for nearly a year, has a high level of arsenic in his body. "I suspect some people in high places, in all likelihood, are responsible for his condition," Karpal said.

Jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim was hospitalized for tests after his lawyers claimed that Malaysian authorities were poisoning him with arsenic. Karpal Singh, Anwar's lawyer, said secret tests on the former deputy prime minister's urine proved that the 52-year-old politician, who has been in jail for nearly a year, has a high level of arsenic in his body. "I suspect some people in high places, in all likelihood, are responsible for his condition," Karpal said.

He wouldn't put it quite this way, but the past year has been a bit mystifying to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has towered over Malaysian politics as none before him and whose legacy, until an economic crisis, had seemed assured. Why would Malaysians call for one of Asia's longest-serving leaders to resign after all he's done for them? Why would his most trusted ally, a man he created politically, turn on him?

About 300 supporters of sacked finance minister Anwar Ibrahim shouted anti-government slogans today as he arrived at a capital courthouse to hear the verdict in his landmark trial. Anwar, who has been in detention since his arrest in September, arrived at the High Court at 8:30 a.m. in a police jeep. Supporters across a small river from the courthouse shouted "Reform!"--the rallying cry of anti-government groups aligned with Anwar--as he entered the courthouse.

Seven months after he was fired as Malaysia's deputy premier, arrested and beaten unconscious by the chief of police, Anwar Ibrahim was convicted on corruption charges today and sentenced to six years in prison. The verdict, rendered by High Court Justice Augustine Paul--who served as a judge and jury of one during the 78-day trial in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital--came as no surprise.

The wife of Malaysia's jailed former No. 2 leader launched a political party Sunday, calling on the opposition to unite to topple Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The wife of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and a roster of the country's top political activists joined forces in launching the National Justice Party.

Malaysia lifted a ban on foreign portfolio investors taking money out of the country, seeking to restore international confidence and attract the funds it needs to rebuild its shattered economy. Fund management firms--including Jardine Fleming and Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd., with $18 billion trapped in Malaysian stocks and bonds since capital controls were imposed in September--will be able to take their money out of the country, paying a graduated "exit" tax of as much as 30%.

About 300 supporters of sacked finance minister Anwar Ibrahim shouted anti-government slogans today as he arrived at a capital courthouse to hear the verdict in his landmark trial. Anwar, who has been in detention since his arrest in September, arrived at the High Court at 8:30 a.m. in a police jeep. Supporters across a small river from the courthouse shouted "Reform!"--the rallying cry of anti-government groups aligned with Anwar--as he entered the courthouse.

Drive another spike into the heart of one more bloodied Southeast Asia dream. Malaysia is in recession. At the moment Malaysia was to have showcased to the world a decade of glitzy development--as the host of the Commonwealth Games that start Friday--the sky seems to have fallen in, leaving the region's longest-serving prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, stunned but hardly less combative.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reacted to domestic and international pressure Friday by naming a new heir apparent to replace ousted deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who is being tried on charges of sodomy and obstruction of justice.

The furor that erupted at a key Pacific Rim summit here after Vice President Al Gore criticized Malaysia's human rights record reveals, in part, the deep gap between Asian sensitivities and brash American ways. Leaders from Australia, Canada, Indonesia and the Philippines previously had expressed concern for the plight of imprisoned Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.